Honduran presidential election, 1957

A presidential election was held in Honduras on 16 November 1957.

Although Ramón Villeda Morales had expressed a preference for presidential elections, the November meetings of the Constituent Assembly felt otherwise, and Villeda was not reluctant to accept their mandate as chief executive. On 16, after nine hours of rancorous discussion, he was named to begin a six-year term on 1 January 1958. The final vote was thirty-seven to twenty.^[1]

To offset accusations by the opposition that Villeda’s election to the presidency by a simple majority of the assembly was totally ‘undemocratic,’ the Liberal party agreed to a form of coalition government whereby cabinet portfolios were distributed on a 6:2:1 ratio among the Liberal, National, and MNR parties. Even so, after Villeda’s election on 16 November 1957, the National and MNR parties staged protest demonstrations in the streets of Tegucigalpa, and it was not until late that night, when the military junta confirmed the election, that the possibility of armed conflict disappeared.^[2]

The National Constituent Assembly named Colonel Osvaldo López Arellano as the country’s first chief of the armed forces. His appointment was to run for six years.^[3]

References

Elections in Honduras
Presidential elections	1848 1856 1860 1864 1866 1869 1875 1877 1880 1883 1887 1894 1894 1898 1902 1911 1916 1919 1923 1924 1928 1932 1936 1939 1948 1954 1957 1963 1965 1971 1980 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013
Parliamentary elections	1838 1847 1848 1856 1860 1864 1866 1869 1875 1877 1880 1883 1887 1894 1894 1898 1902 1908 1911 1916 1919 1922 1923 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1942 1948 1954 1956 1957 1963 1965 1971 1980 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013
Referendums	1870
See also: Elections in the Federal Republic of Central America